We’re thrilled to finally have our hands on “Greenhorns: The Next Generation of American Farmers,” a new book by our friends, The Greenhorns. Editors (and fellow Greenhorns) Severine Von Tscharner Fleming, Zoë Bradbury and Paula Manalo have gathered up 50 compelling, funny, heartbreaking and hopeful stories from beginning farmers around the country. Each story gives the reader the opportunity to spend some time in a farmer’s boots, and each tale reveals an aspect of the challenges and triumphs new farmers face. These are great stories that can be passed along for the lessons they hold.

The following excerpt is from a story that is right up our alley. It illustrates perfectly the American farmer’s ingenuity, tenacity and disregard for the concept that something is “impossible”. Teresa and her partner, Packy, dreamed of owning their own land to farm, and had finally found the perfect property for them. They were ready to buy and started the process in what they thought was the “right” way. Turns out that the “right” way wasn’t going to work for a farmer. The excerpt picks up there:

I’d like to meet the farmer who can buy a piece of land, till it, prepare the soil, sow the seeds, grow the plants, harvest the crop, take the crop to market, sell it, deposit the cash in the bank, and write a check for the mortgage all in one month. In October. On the Oregon coast.

Hoping to talk to people who at least understood the physical realities of farming, we called the USDA Farm Service Agency about its small-farm loan program. The FSA agent we met with listened to our plans, then paid us the compliment of saying that it seemed like we actually had our act together. But she went on to be brutally honest about the FSA small-farm loan program and our chances of actually getting a loan to buy land for our farm. To her, a small farm was one growing four hundred acres of grass seed or running three hundred head of cattle. She told us that our proposed five or six acres of cultivated land growing mixed vegetable, fruit, and flower crops, and raising chickens with some off-farm income rounding out the economic edges fell into the USDA category of a “lifestyle farm.”

“We don’t normally make loans for lifestyle farms,” she told us politely.

“It’s a damn hard way of life, not a bloody lifestyle,” I muttered, annoyed, on the subdued drive home.

The seller of the farm we loved still wanted a crazy amount of money for it, and we had no loan options that would let us even begin negotiating, so she stopped talking to us and we sadly tried to accept that we were just never going to farm that land.

We spent the next six months scrambling, trying to come up with some way to keep farming on the Oregon coast. We had market customers calling us with land-for-sale referrals and offering to sign up for a CSA program before we even had a farm to grow the food. We explored many, many ideas: buy land with a group of people and start a nonprofit education farm; temporarily lease another piece of land; find a cheaper land option; renegotiate with our current landlords; borrow money privately. Each option was explored and each gradually disintegrated as we tried to cobble together a solution to keep our dying farm alive, all painfully in the midst of our best market season ever.

A grim day in June found us sitting at the kitchen table facing the bleak reality that we were going to have to quit farming. It was a painful moment for me. At forty-three years old I had finally found work I loved, work I was actually good at and that I cared passionately about. I could grow plants, I could feed people, and I could teach them how to grow plants and feed themselves. The support from our community for the farm we wanted to have was heartening to us, but it couldn’t get us the loan we needed. With deep resignation, we each made phone calls, went for interviews, and accepted “real jobs” with the understanding that we would start part time to allow us to finish out the current farmers’-market season, pay off bills, and put the farm into hibernation.

Farm or no farm, we needed to find a new place to live. While cruising around online to figure out what kind of house price we might be able afford with our new job income, we stumbled across a local real-estate company on whose home page under the heading NEW LISTINGS was that farm. The farm we loved. The farm we’d tried to buy for more than a year, the land we’d dreamed about and planned for and had finally, depressingly given up on some six months ago. Still for sale. Price reduced to something we could now maybe afford.

In a daze, we called a local bank and made an appointment to talk about a straight-up, super-normal home loan. We told our long story to the very nice broker, reassured him about our commitment to our regular-paycheck “real jobs,” described the down-payment fund we had waiting, and explained our plan for keeping the farm going part time to help with additional income to pay the mortgage.

“No farming,” he said sternly. “Quit the farming, right now. Only work the regular-paycheck real jobs. Then, maybe, we can make it work.”

So that’s what we did. The irony of having to quit farming so we could finally get a loan to buy the land to move our farm to stuck in our craw, and was made even harder to swallow when we had to provide written reassurance to the lenders (nervous about our worrisome “history of farming”) that although we had indeed spent five years running a “hobby farm,” we had seen the error of that life path, now had nice safe real jobs, and only wanted to buy eighteen acres of land zoned agriculture-forestry so we could continue to live a “rural lifestyle.”

It wasn’t a legally binding document, and besides, I had my fingers crossed behind my back when I signed it. I can’t say I recommend lying to your bank as a road to farm ownership, but it worked, and I’m not ashamed that that’s what we did. The shame I feel is for a country that makes it virtually impossible for hardworking beginning farmers — people who are willing to devote their lives to growing healthy food for their communities — to own land.

We’re still working off-farm to make ends meet, slowly building our soil, rebuilding our infrastructure, putting down roots, heading back to being farmers again. Challenges are still there every day, and they always will be. Some of them seem impossible in the moment.

“Do you really want to keep farming?” we ask each other.

And the answer is always, “Hell, yes.”

In 2003, Teresa Retzlaff and her partner, Packy Coleman, began farming on the north Oregon coast. Six years later they managed to purchase land near Astoria, and now live and farm on 46 North Farm in Olney, Oregon, where they’re building both their soil and a very big elk fence.

“Excerpted from Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers’ Movement (c) Zoe Ida Bradbury, Severing von Tscharner Fleming, and Paula Manalo. Used with permission of Storey Publishing.”

GIVEAWAY: To be entered into the drawing for a copy of the book, leave a comment telling us your story: What is a “how not to…” story from your farm, garden, kitchen or home? Tell us how you made “it” work by ignoring what others said was  ”impossible.” We’ll choose a winner on Monday May 29th.

Granted, the most useful thing about being an urban farmer is that we grow our own food.  I can make speedy trips to the grocery store to pick up staples like flour or oil, and bypass the masses with carts slowly shopping in the produce aisles.

However, the ability to grow beautiful things is also a benefit to having a green thumb.

We’re entering our fourth year of farming, and in seasons past, my pet project has been to grow nothing but flowers in our front yard.

Things certainly started off well.  I was able to grow enough zinnias my first two years that I sold them regularly to restaurants, and I was able to consistently have fresh flowers to decorate both my home and office.

The third year, my zinnias lost part of their front-yard plot to make way for sunchokes, which have their own beautiful blooms.  Although, they grew so tall, all it took was one bad summertime storm to turn the 6 foot flowers into a mountain of fallen walkway hazards.

This fourth year, I replicated my zinnia seed planting regime as I had in years past: I tended the empty bed, weeded and raked the soil, leveling it out, and made little divots for my seeds to go.  But weeks later and nothing.  So I tried again, this time with fresh store-bought seeds instead of the ones I’d saved from previous seasons, prepping the barren beds and tucking the tiny seeds into their little holes.  Weeks later, still nothing.

Frustrated and saddened that perhaps my green thumb has turned some other color, I’ve finally resorted to starting the seeds in individually-celled trays and keeping them moist in our greenhouse until the day they (hopefully) emerge.

What about you, Homegrowners?  Has Mother Nature made you shake your fist at the sky and doubt your gardening prowess?  Try, try again, I say.  Something’s got to sprout eventually.

“I’m half of YellowTree Farm, an urban homestead that I founded with my husband in late 2008.  Together, we grow vegetables and raise animals on less than 1/10 of an acre in St. Louis, Missouri.  I don’t have children.  I have animals, which is kind of the same thing as being a parent, except I eat my babies.”

Saturday On The Maker Square Stage in The HOMEGROWN Village

Saturday in The HOMEGROWN Village Workshop Area:

10:30 AM
Herb Spiral Revolution — learn to make an herb spiral. Nik Dyer

12:00 PM 
Butter! Shake it and Make it! Farm Aid / HOMEGROWN.org 

1:00 PM 
Chinese Noodle Maker Mr. Wang

3:00 PM
Direct Trade Coffees Taste Better: Ritual Coffee Tasting – Steve Ford

4:00 PM 

Kraut-a-thon Happy Girl Kitchen Co.

6:00 PM

Guerrilla Gardening: Making Seed Balls Edward Cabral

Kraut-a-thon

Sunday On The Maker Square Stage in The HOMEGROWN Village

Sunday in The HOMEGROWN Village Workshop Area:

10:00 AM

Seed Catalog Crafts! – Cornelia Homegrown

12:00 PM

Butter! Shake it and Make it! Farm Aid / HOMEGROWN.org

1:00 PM

Chinese Noodle Maker Mr. Wang

 3:00 PM

Kraut-a-thon Happy Girl Kitchen Co.

 4:30 PM

Guerrilla Gardening: Making Seed Balls Edward Cabral

Chinese noodle-making

We are so excited for Maker Faire this year! The HOMEGROWN Village — the food and sustainability area of the Faire — is better than ever!

Here is a list of the exhibitors participating in the Village. For more about Maker Faire, and The HOMEGROWN Village at Maker Faire, you can check out the links, but it really must be experienced to fully “get” it. Hope to see you there!

Beekeepers Guild of San Mateo

The Beekeepers Guild of San Mateo is an organization dedicated to educating both new and experienced beekeepers. Our exhibit will be staffed by experienced beekeepers to answer questions, offer support and provide products form their hives for sale.

Build A Bug Habitat!

Create a wildlife habitat full of nooks and crannies for a variety of insects. Re-purpose materials such as wooden wine boxes, used lumber and natural organic materials. Attract pollinators!

Disconnect from the Water Grid: Greywater, Rainwater, Composting Toilets

From Greywater Action: Learn how to reduce dependence on the water grid with simple, low-tech, low-cost options. Greywater Action is a collaborative group of educators, designers, builders and artists who educate and empower people to build sustainable water culture and infrastructure.

East Bay Urban Agriculture Alliance

EBUAA: educates on sustainable practices for growing and raising healthy food in an urban environment; develops infrastructure to support agriculture throughout the East Bay; and advocates for policies that enable productive use of urban land. (Plus you can meet Tom and Rachel from Dog Island Farm and The HOMEGROWN Life column!)

Farming FOR Mother Nature

Find out what organic agriculture really means and how including Mother Nature in our food production is both mutually beneficial and necessary for our future; learn ecological farming techniques for your own backyard garden! From Singing Frogs Farm.

Guerrilla Gardens

Become a modern Johnny Appleseed, spreading seed balls to restore natural beauty! These guerrilla gardens are full of wildflowers native to North America, enjoyed by humans and wildlife alike. Just throw & don’t mow! Also, don’t miss Edward’s seed ball-making workshops happening each afternoon!

Hacking Agriculture

Meet Pilar Reber and Rick Wesson a husband and wife team living a sustainable, organic life while hacking seven acres of local urban biodynamic farmland in Richmond, CA.

Happy Girl Kitchen

Happy Girl Kitchen Co. makes a variety of preserved goods using locally harvested produce and is a part of the DIY local food revolution. Happy Girl Kitchen Co. is making change in a delicious way, “one jar at a time”.

Letterpress Printing The Old-fashioned Way

Letterpress printing has been around since Johannes Gutenberg invented it in the mid-15th Century. Visit Peach Farm Studio to learn about letterpress printing the old fashioned way and print a letterpress label or recipe card to take home with you.

Milkin’ In The City

Goat milk? Learn how you can have some too with your very own urban goats. We’ll discuss the ins and outs of keeping dairy goats in the city. From Heidi Kooy of Itty Bitty Farm In The City.

Poo Garden

Feed greedy plants – not greedy banks!
This composting toilet was designed for the Occupy movement. What started out as a urine-diverting, dry-composting toilet ended up as a permanent fixture that reclaims a place for nature.

Ritual Coffee

At the Ritual Coffee booth, you’ll get to taste different coffees and learn about how varietal, processing and origin contribute to the natural flavors of a particular coffee. All brewing will be done on equipment that is available for home use. Ask the experts how you can improve your coffee at home.

Sonatas of the Soil

Lily Films (makers of the documentary, The Future of Food) will show three shorts from their new film project, Symphony of the Soil. These short Sonatas of the Soil are each 10-15 minutes long and delve deeply into one topic.

Tiny Homes

There’s a grassroots movement in tiny homes these days. In this book are some 150 builders who have taken things into their own hands, creating tiny homes on land, on wheels, on the road, on water, even homes in trees. Be inspired to MAKE your own. From Shelter Publications. Also see Lloyd Kahn’s presentation on Tiny Homes

Trackers

Trackers is an education organization dedicated to teaching old school outdoor skills: wilderness survival, wild plants, homesteading crafts, kayak building, tracking, and more. We run weekend programs for adults, summer camps, and after school groups.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. will teach you how to reduce your carbon footprint, eliminate reliance on mortgages and have the freedom of living with less “stuff” by building your own little house.

Urban Biofilter

Our Mobile Greenbelts are fabricated out of upcycled and palletized totes. The plants we select for these modular systems grow quickly and provide dense foliage for air filtration and wastewater reuse and treatment.

Worms, Worms, Worms!

Did you know that there are hundreds of millions of microscopic soil critters in a teaspoon of healthy soil? Learn how to grow a healthy garden by feeding these soil critters. Compost and create a garden that is life sustaining. The County of San Mateo/RecycleWorks Master Composter Program encourages composting, IPM and reuse for sustainable gardening in San Mateo County.

We here at HOMEGROWN.org are big fans of the Transition movement — mostly because it invites all people to utilize their skills and talents  to make real social change in their local communities. More and more, we are aiming to make this web site a resource for learning the skills that we celebrate: the agrarian skills of growing, cooking, building and crafting. The practice of these skills is what connects us with the earth and with those who harness the earth’s ability to provide us with clean, healthy, fresh food. — the family farmer. The practice of these skills is also what builds resilience (a term the Transition folks use often) in our communities, and empowers us all to have a choice in where our food comes from.

We’ve partnered with Transition US to be a resource for the Transition Challenge already underway this month.

From the Transition US web site:

So what exactly is the Transition Challenge?

For the entire month of May, thousands of average citizens from around the country will work together to create new gardens, green their homes and build community resilience. Abandoned lots will be converted into green oases and school children will pull weeds and plant tomato starts. Whole communities will pick up shovels and tools to help construct rainwater harvesting systems, install solar panels, make energy efficiency improvements, and share garden know-how with their friends and neighbors. All while educating and empowering community, and supporting local businesses.

You as an individual in your community can identify specific actions in one or more of the four challenge areas: food, water, energy, community and/or you can volunteer on a community project.

You’ll find many of the HOMEGROWN 101s linked under the “Food” action section. For example:

Raise Backyard Chickens

Propagate plants from a friend or neighbor’s yard: Propagating 101 – Growing From Cuttings

Replace any chemical pesticides with DIY Organic Pesticide sprays: Homemade Organic Pesticide Sprays 101

Create an irrigation system using recycled plastic bottles: Homemade Ollas 101 (Irrigation)

Grow food in containers: Container Gardening 101

Grow food in raised beds: Raised bed gardening 101

Compost: Composting 101 & DIY Compost Bin 101

Start growing fruit trees: Espaliering A Fruit Tree 101 & Grafting Fruit Trees 101

Grow food indoors – by sprouting! Sprouting 101

Extend the food-growing season by building a hoop house: Hoop Houses 101

Become a beekeeper: Beekeeping 101 (The First Year)

Make your own bread and butter!

Preserve Seasonal Produce by Canning It!

Make a rainbarrel

Find work on a farm

Start a food co-op in your town

Most likely, you are already doing at least some of this stuff – because it’s what we love to do! Maybe you’re already involved in a Transition Town where you live? Share your action with the Transition community, and inspire others to get activated today!

When your primary focus is growing food sometimes other plants get overlooked. I have to say I’m definitely guilty of this. In a race to use all of our available space to grow food we made the dumb decision to rip out our landscape that was filled with flowers. Soon after we moved the chickens and quickly realized that planting a new landscape – even an edible one – wasn’t going to happen. The established landscape would have been able to hold up to the chickens but anything planted now would quickly get trampled and eaten.

Why Did We Tear This Out?!!!

We had Ceanothus (Wild Lilac) which has beautiful cornflower blue flowers that bloomed the earliest in spring. The magenta Penstemon (Beard Tongue) bloomed almost all year round here. In summer the Hemerocallis (Daylily) and Lavandula (Lavender) bloomed together in complementing orange and purple flowers. The Salvia (Mexican Bush Sage) bloomed in late fall. In between all the plants grew a blanket of white clover.

The flowers weren’t just there to be pretty. They provided a long blooming source of forage for our bees and the native pollinators. The hummingbirds and bumble bees would visit the Penstemon on a regular basis. The clover offered consistent forage for the bees and turkeys and it would have also been eaten by the chickens if we had left it. Everything together offered habitat for beneficial insects along with acting as a trap crop for pests. It served an important purpose in helping us avoid using pesticides on our edibles.

But there is also nothing wrong with pretty. My day job involves making landscapes pretty. Pretty can make a space somewhere people want to spend time. It can make a space relaxing. While edibles feed the body, pretty feeds the soul. We need pretty just as much as we need functional. And sometimes, like with our former landscape, pretty can be functional.

My friends in college used to call me a Renaissance woman. I was always doing something crafty, creative, or utilitarian. I still am. My focus these days, instead of arts and crafts, has been farming as much of my urban quarter acre as humanly possible. With my husband, we run Dog Island Farm in the SF Bay Area. We raise chickens, goats, rabbits, dogs, cats, and a kid. We’re always keeping busy. If I’m not out in the yard I’m in the kitchen making something from scratch. Homemade always tastes better!

David Craft is a star forager here in Boston, and he had spent that morning picking greens and weeds at The Arnold Arboretum in my very neighborhood. Supplemented by locally-baked bread, and stewed beans, here is what we ate:

Cold salad containing: chickweed, violet greens and flowers, redbud flowers, linden leaves, lamb’s quarters, garlic mustard weed.

Warm salad containing: milkweed, pokeweed,  and stinging nettles.

Japanese knotweed pickles

The real revelation for me was the knotweed. That persistent, aggravating weed that makes its way under the fence from my neighbor’s yard now has a useful purpose — PICKLES!! Eureka!

David has been kind enough to share the recipe from his book, which is definitely worth picking up.

Japanese Knotweed Hot Pickles
1 part vinegar
1 part water
Bring this to a boil and add some sliced garlic, pickling spices and salt. I like whole black peppercorns and red pepper flakes.

Add enough tender knotweed (first couple weeks of growth, whole stalk, after that, just the top section that easily breaks off) so that it is just covered. Remove from the flame. It does not need to cook at all, just being plunged in the boiling water vinegar solution is fine.

Put into sterilized mason jars. Ready for consumption as soon as they cool off! Great in salads.

This is, of course, a pretty basic recipe, so feel free to experiment with your wild edibles!

Photo via Hanson.net

Remember HANSON? Even if you cringe when you hear ‘MMMBop’ now, if you’re under 25, the brothers HANSON were your favorite band in elementary school…especially when you saw the video and realized that it was actually 3 dudes with long hair rollerblading to bubblegum pop. Middle of Nowhere, the group’s first album, was the very first cassette tape I ever bought, at age 8, and I’m not ashamed to admit (ok, maybe a little ashamed) that I saw the trio perform a few years ago.

These guys have continued to thwart pop music irrelevance, perhaps as a result of carefully crafted marketing strategy.  According to littlest Hanson, Zac, “we of course make records, they are fundamental to what we do, but we wanted to create a brand so that our fans have a greater experience.” As their fans have aged, HANSON’s music, looks and brand have also gone through teenage and adult evolutions. Last December, as many of their fans reached legal drinking age the brothers announced plans to release their own beer, the aptly branded MMMHop IPA.

In addition to the beer, they recently performed with Arlo Guthrie at the Woody Guthrie Centennial celebration, have sold HANSON-branded Tom’s shoes and walk miles with fans to raise money for AIDS, produce their own art for album covers and videos, and now they’ve entered the food market selling cookie cutters, Valentines’s day chocolates, and now craft beer. I’ve been keeping my eye open for the MMMHop IPA, but haven’t yet seen it show up on shelves. I’ll let you know how it measures up to Pearl Jam’s Faithfull Ale, which I have to crack open.

For now, check out these other music-inspired libations: Hellhound On My Ale, inspired by Robert Johnson, Bitches Brew, inspired by Miles Davis,  Build a Rocket Boys Beer, created by British band Elbow, Joe Elliot’s Down ‘N’ Outz lager, and the definitely-Wilco-inspired Wilco Tango Foxtrot ale.

Tried any of these beers? Got a favorite? Share it!

Spring is definitely the season of Resurrection on the farm and in the forest. New shoots emerge. Plants are reborn as seeds become sprouts become stalks. Then, right on time, it’s here. Spring has sprung. And, holy of holies, asparagus comes with it.

photo: Esteban Cavrico

Asparagus is a beautiful little plant that signals a great shift in the annual cycle of birth, growth, maturity, decay and compost. Asparagus prepares us for what is to come. It’s a blend of the wild and the tame. For a handful of weeks in Spring it serves as a signal that winter is gone and freshness is here.

Unfortunately, this cycle has given way to asparagus alongside cream-smothered chicken-breast any time of year. Asparagus is on the shelf of the big box supermarket any time you might have the hankering for a Spring fling. For too many, asparagus is now just another source of nutrients as we battle modernity’s cancers and obesities and diabetes.

At the Root Cellar, though, asparagus is different. We are clinging to the past and trying to usher in a different kind of present all at once. We attempt to celebrate asparagus by placing it on the menu (and in the Missouri Bounty Box weekly produce subscription program) when it arrives. As we grow in size and gather around a bigger table of local-minded, seasonal seekers of authentic food and drink, we start to understand the real limits of supply in the Missouri market. Searching for 200 bunches of Asparagus per week in April/May of 2012 has been an interesting adventure to be sure.

Instead, like much of our lives, in an attempt to coordinate the production, packing, transport and logistics of seasonal Missouri eating, we have been forced to go the “Well, guess we better just do it ourselves route.” This means finding farmers with the space and desire for bedding down asparagus crowns for the long-haul. It means finding growers willing to engage in a marriage-like commitment to perennial plants. It means finding enough souls that believe the Missouri Bounty Box has enough staying power to endure a harvest a few years out.

I am one of those farmers that has taken the asparagus challenge. I purchased 700 asparagus crowns and have many of them planted already. The initial investment is in crown, fertilizer, time, land, tillage, time, water, mulch, hoe and time. So capital and time. The hope is that my family puts in the crowns (and probably twice as many next year) so that we can grow with the Bounty Box, yielding one or two bunches per year per crown for the next 20 years. Jenny (my wife) has already taken to calling it the “boys’ college fund”. Part of that statement is an attempt to get them to keep participating in an ownership sort of way in our new asparagus patch. The other part represents the financial commitment and possible long-term pay-off of planting a perennial food crop that might or might not end up being a good use of time and treasure. We shall see which wolf we feed.

We wanted to write up a post about asparagus to explain how farmers look at the crop, but also as a sort of apology to our customers. We have spent many hours in the field and on the phone seeking farmers with an existing asparagus supply. We had many leads and many sources that told us a very similar story about 2012: the asparagus came and went with a flitter this year. It grew and was done almost before any was even able to be caught long enough for harvest. The spears are already grown into tall shrubbery looking to produce seed and push down roots.

At the end of the day, the 2012 growing season holds great promise with a long and mild and incredibly early Spring. Asparagus was available for our next-to-last Winter Bounty Box, but the prospects continue to be grim for any stalks in the beginning of the Spring/Summer Bounty Box season. Last year we had asparagus from middle May through the first couple of weeks of June. This year we’ll be lucky to have any asparagus past May 1st.

So goes the annual cycle of living, working and eating the Missouri agricultural landscape through the Root Cellar’s farm and food system. 2012 is barely here, yet here we are praying (or hoping, or using reason and science and capitalism) for a better 2013.

And my prayer/wish goes like this:

Dear Earth,
Please help bring the moisture,
But not too much,
Please help the bugs and fungus,
But only those with good intentions,
Please bring the warmth,
But keep her in check,

Please pass on a message,
To my new friend, Asparagus.

I really want to be friends, to cooperate,
To shepherd your temperament into new stalks.
I hope you like it here,
In sand and clay and rotted manure.
I hope you make it your home, too.

I know that’s a lot to ask,
But I will be here anyway,
Watching, Waiting.
Hoeing, Piling.
Waiting.

Bryce is a farmer, father, writer and rural economic development entrepreneur. He works with his family to raise organic vegetables, beef, lamb, chickens, goats and manage the bottomland forest woodlot in Western Missouri. He has helped to launch numerous social enterprises including a sustainable wood processing cooperative, a dairy goat cheese processing facility and a conservation-based land management company that incentivizes carbon sequestration in forests and grasslands. Bryce currently co-owns the Root Cellar Grocery in Downtown Columbia, Missouri, where the local food store operates a weekly produce subscription program, the Missouri Bounty Box (www.missouribountybox.com). Bryce, along with 135 other farmers, sells his produce through this program.

Do you remember your first conscious food choice? I don’t mean chicken or beef lo mein, I’m talking about the first time you considering who your food dollar supports, where and how your food was produced, or what potential implications food additives, chemicals, or genetically-modified ingredients could have on your health? How have your food experiences changed not only your diet, but your views on the food system and the choices you make three meals a day?

I ask because, as an eater and an active member of the food movement, these questions cross my mind often. While I’m now trying to live more HOMEGROWN by growing some of my own food and supplementing with other local goods from farmers’ markets, I can make choices every day that support a sustainable food system and family farmers. Reflecting back on my journey to a greater understanding about good food, farming and fair policies, I think I’ve come a long way! There’s still a long way to go, but I’m enjoying the journey one bite at a time.

I guess the seminal, “a-ha!” food moment for me was when I became a vegetarian at the tender age of 16. It was a livestock farmer who flipped the switch for me at my hometown agricultural fair. On my way to work a shift at the steamed cheeseburger booth, I ran into a farmer in the Cow Palace showing a calf named Caroline. She was a sweet girl with her big ol’ brown eyes and, of course, I felt a spiritual connection to my bovine namesake. After cooing over her for a few minutes, the farmer handed me a pamphlet in beef production. Long story short, one look back at Caroline and another at the ground stuff I was serving led me to swear off steamed cheeseburgers that night and all meat for the next 6 years.

Turning down meat was the first time I can remember making an informed food choice. Growing up I was fortunate to have parents that provided us with local food from our own backyard or from our neighbors. I never really thought about where all that food in the markets came from; I guess not every family has chickens in their yard and a cow down the street! But, actively considering food choices opened a new vein of thought. I had to figure out what I could eat and whether or not I was getting enough nutrients in each meal. Soon, my food consciousness took root and spread to consider the number food miles my avocados traveled, whether or not the veggie burgers I ate were made with genetically-modified soy, if my lettuce was treated with pesticides, and who grew and picked the tomatoes I love so much?

The more I learn about food and the intricacies of the food system, the more empowered I feel to make choices that not only benefit me, but also support family farmers and the environment. My food consciousness is still growing as my tastes change and as I learn and experience. Recently, I was actually convinced by another beef producer to give meat another go…and now I enjoy local meat when I can get it!

By no means is my diet perfect, and still my understanding about the food system is limited. I’ll admit, sometimes my hamster gets more fruits and vegetables than I do, and more often than I’d like, I eat a greasy slice of pizza for dinner. My evolving food consciousness, though, has refined my palette and has solidified my place in the Good Food Movement. And it sure tastes great!

Got any good stories about your own journey in the great, wide food movement? How do you live HOMEGROWN and support your vision of a healthy, fair food system? Share your ideas! Whether you’re growing your own, cooking locally, or supporting farmers in other ways, I’d love to hear more!

I am the Flock-Tender here on HOMEGROWN.org, and the Program Associate at Farm Aid. I am keeping a chronicle of my experiences learning, living, and growing a HOMEGROWN life just out of college.